Collide
by SushiChica
Summary: Sometimes life's big crashes bring about misdirected blame and hate. But if you work through all the complications, sometimes you'll find love. Four people, two relationships, one story.[RobStar][KFJinx]
1. Dynamic Velocity

Barbara Gordon was not a rule breaker. She'd never been one. Born the daughter of a police chief in a small Minnesota town called Gotham, there hadn't ever been much room for rule _bending_, let alone breaking. While most teens kicked, punched, screamed, and fought through their adolescent years, Babs kept her head down and did what she was told. It didn't provide for the most exciting experiences, granted, but it wasn't a bad way to grow up. She hadn't expected college to be any different than high school, because in her mind Steel City, New York wouldn't be _too _much of a change from Gotham, Minnesota.

Then she got to Steel City, where she met her housemates Raven and Kory. Crazy, beautiful, and seemingly unafraid of the limits and boundaries Babs held so dear in the previous years of her life, the pair had grown up together in the city and welcomed a hesitant Babs Gordon with open arms, open closets, and open bottles of liquid eyeliner. Back in Gotham, people often thought Babs had been pretty, if not a bit on the plain side. Her tendency to follow every guideline presented to her hadn't exactly helped. In a matter of weeks, however, Raven and Kory had transformed their small-town friend into someone who turned heads when she walked down the street.

"Make up," Raven Roth would often remind anyone who was listening, "is a powerful thing." She was Steel City's nineteen year old makeup prodigy, undiscovered but fabulous nonetheless. She was a relatively quiet person who had the tendency to blatantly ignore anyone she found unworthy of her time (which, luckily, did not include Babs), her hair was never the same color three months in a row, and her wealthy parents were the reason she could afford the largest portion of rent for the upscale Steel City apartment which they shared. Raven was often labeled as an ice queen for her frosty gazes and prolonged silences, but there were times when Babs thought she could see a softer, more delicate side that wasn't always obvious to the world.

Slowly but surely, Babs had shed the awkward skin of her younger, less experienced self and for the first time felt comfortable with who she was and where she was going. For a while she'd tried to cling onto her old, more responsible ways, and yet day by day she found herself slipping into the chaos that was Steel City with her two new friends.

But even the crazy city girl buzz that Babs had come to find familiar couldn't keep her from noticing that the car she was currently riding in was eating the pavement ahead of it at an alarmingly fast rate. She tried to ignore it, but it wasn't easy when the trees that lined the dark, empty highway the little black Jetta was practically flying down went by faster than her eyes could register. She was coming back from a three day road trip to some lake house that Raven's parents owned and Kory had visited in the past, but neither girl was actually driving. Babs tried to tune into the car conversation in hopes of blocking out the responsible warning bells that were shrieking at the base of her skull.

"_Gar_," Raven was saying from the passenger seat, "there's no possible way you can like this trash." Beside her, his hands loosely gripping the steering wheel, Gar Logan shot his girlfriend a grin.

"You're saying that you don't find deep philosophical meaning in the lyrics?"

"Hardly," the currently violet haired girl let a rare snort escape her before glancing out the window in an attempt to ignore the radio station her boyfriend had chosen, but smiled softly when Gar placed one of his hands over hers. Over the past few months, Babs had gotten used to their love-hate relationship, and even found herself laughing at their silly arguments as well as relishing in the warm, fuzzy feelings she got from their small acts of affection for one another.

"The song is called _Bloody Tales of a Shattered Soul_. I really don't get where you're getting all this idealistic reasoning," Kory remarked, straightening up in her seat behind Raven.

"Seconded," Babs decided to take action and clambered forward, punching various numbers on the radio control until she found a station she liked. Satisfied, she returned to her back seat beside Kory.

"A few months ago, you never would've had the guts to do that," Raven looked over her shoulder at Babs with a smirk. "You've come a long way since I met you, and I want you to know that you owe it all to Kor and me."

"Sure, whatever," Babs shrugged her friend's words off, but inside she glowed at the compliment. "While I'm at it, being bold and everything, you feel like slowing down Gar? I think you're gonna break the sound barrier soon if you're not careful."

"She's right, you're pretty much pushing eighty," Kory leaned forward and rested her head on the shoulder of Raven's seat to examine the dashboard more closely.

"That's how we live, Babs. Fast." Gar quickly brought Raven's fingers to his lips before dropping her hand, clutching the wheel dramatically, and flooring the accelerator.

"Yeah, until we're all paint on a tree!" Raven spat, her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle on the door. "Do us all a favor: stop showing off and drive like a sane person." Her words made Gar let up on the gas. A bit.

"You're no fun."

"If you're looking for fun, I'm probably not the girl for you then."

"Maybe, but you're good in bed."

"Say that again, Gar. See what happens. I dare you."

"Maybe, but you're good in-"

"_Gar…_"

Kory groaned as she turned to Babs. "You getting sick of them yet?"

"They're cute," Babs shrugged, pushing a lock of red hair behind her ear.

"You say that until you're stuck in a broken elevator with them for three hours," Kory countered with a weary smile. "It happened back in high school, and while I love them both, it was pure hell in there. And this was _before_ they got together, so the sexual tension was like, through the roof."

If there was one thing that could be said for Kory Anders, it was that she had the most genuine smile Babs had ever seen. She was an aspiring model, a fashion major, and so cheerful that she was sometimes thought to be inhuman. There was no denying that she had a temper when provoked at length (as made obvious one night when a barista at the local coffee shop wouldn't stop making crude passes at her), but even then her anger seemed just. Everything she did, she did from her heart, and that was all anyone could ask from her. Some thought Kory beautiful, and while her personality did indeed radiate true beauty, Babs had always seen her features to be more striking than anything else. Critically speaking, her eyes were slightly too far apart, her eyebrows were a bit too high and small, and her chin was just a smidge too long. Yet on Kory Anders, all the little imperfections that would've looked off on anyone else seemed to work together to create not a beautiful face, but one that you wouldn't soon forget. Sometimes people would say that Kory and Babs looked somewhat similar to one another, mostly due to their red hair and similar skin tones. But most of the time, Babs felt like her friend was on an entirely different level of beauty.

"That's such a pretty necklace!" Kory's eyes shone brightly as they swept Babs's neckline.

"What? Oh, thanks," she had unconsciously begun to bite her lip, a nervous habit. The car was going _way_ too fast.

"Where'd you get it?"

"Dick."

"Ooh," Kory smiled, her reddish hair falling forward as she leaned down. "A wedding present?"

"Hardly," Babs rolled her eyes. Dick Grayson was one of the few things she'd held on to from what she sometimes thought of as her "past life." Dick and Babs had practically grown up together, although it wasn't until their junior year in high school that he 'grew a pair,' as Raven had put it when Babs was recounting her love life for her two new friends, and asked her to be his girlfriend. "He bought it for me a couple days ago."

"You guys have been going out for three years," Kory pointed out, catching the pendant in her hand and struggling to read the inscription without cutting into Babs's skin with the chain. "It might as _well_ be a wedding present."

"Yeah, yeah. Here, it's easier to see when it's not attached to my neck," as she spoke, Babs reached back and unhooked the clasp, passing the jewelry to her friend after a small untangling bout with her hair.

"Wow," Kory palmed the heart pendant carefully, "I need to get a boyfriend as sweet as Dick, God."

"Speaking of which…" Babs had pulled a vibrating cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Babs! Hey, we still on for dinner tomorrow night?" Dick's voice sent all thoughts of how fast the car was going clear out of her mind.

"Miss dinner with you? Never." At her side, Kory raised an eyebrow and held up the necklace that still sat in her palm. Babs shook her head and raised a finger, asking for a moment of privacy. Kory was happy to oblige, closing her hand around the chain and pendant and shutting her eyes as though attempting to absorb the music playing. Or block out her two still arguing friends in the front seat.

Or both.

"What're you up to?" Babs's attention returned to her boyfriend at his question.

"Breaking the law," she remarked sarcastically, playing with a loose lock of hair.

"Really?"

"Well, breaking the speed limit, anyways."

"How irresponsible of you."

"I'm always told that I'm _too _responsible. Maybe it's time to change it up."

"I like your responsibility."

"I like you," as she said the words, Babs could practically see Dick grinning, wherever he was.

"I'm touched." His favorite phrase.

"I know. What're you doing?"

"Hanging out with Wally and a couple of his friends."

"Beer and video games?"

"Basically."

"I should've known. Sounds intellectual."

"You have no idea."

"So how's-"

_Screeeeech._

"Gar! Slow down!" Raven was yelling. "You almost hit the-"

"I can't control the car! It's going too fast, Rae!" Gar's eyes were wild as the Jetta suddenly spun out to the right.

Kory was screaming.

"Babs? Babs, are you okay?" Dick's voice was in her ear. The car collided with something solid.

"Dick-!" Babs screamed as she was thrown against the car door and pinned in place by Kory's unconscious body.

"Babs? _Babs?_"

Static.


	2. Day by Day

_April 15th, 2005_

_The doctors say you're going to be okay. Thank God. I can barely recognize you, Babs. That's how banged up you are. I wish I could have a conversation with you, but you're in a freakin' coma. I miss your smile. You've always been so responsible. I don't understand how you actually let that Gar guy drive so damn fast. I mean, you freak out when I go ten miles per hour over the speed limit. But ninety, on a dark highway? I wasn't lying when I said I liked your responsibility. And now Gar and Kory are dead. Raven's condition is still undetermined. Maybe I'm being selfish, but the fact that you're alive is really all I care about._

_I miss your laugh._

_Love,  
Dick_

_April 19th, 2005_

_She fought hard, Babs. She really did. And the doctor did everything they could. But she's gone, Babs. Raven is gone. And now you're the only one left. I'm so scared that the doctors are wrong; that you're not going to make it, just like the rest of them. It's been four days, and you still haven't woken up. I don't know if it means anything while you're lying here fighting for your life, but I love you Babs. I always have._

_Love,  
Dick_

_April 28th, 2005_

_I came as soon as the doctors called. You're awake. Or, you were. Now you're back to sleeping again. It's killing me to see you like this Babs, no God awful joke intended. I brought you some soup, but I'm not so sure you'll like it. You know how bad I am at cooking. I asked the nurse to offer it to you next time you wake up, but its okay if you don't want to eat it._

_They're holding memorial services for Kory, Raven, and Gar today. All at once, because their parents figured that they would've wanted to be remembered together. I'll take you to their graves when you're better, Babs. I promise._

_I was sitting here with you, and I remembered that day we spent at that park downtown last month. You fell asleep on my shoulder on the drive home. But as soon as I pulled into your apartment complex parking lot, you woke up. It was like you were on a timer or something. I wish you could wake up now. Right this very second._

_Or maybe your timer's not quite ready to go off yet._

_I think I'd be a really crappy philosopher._

_Love,  
Dick_

_May 2nd, 2005_

_Your dad just called. He apologized nearly a million times for not coming immediately, but he had the flu. Apparently he was throwing up and everything. I know you guys fought hard (for literally the first time ever, I swear, you were such a perfect teen) about you leaving for Steel City, but he sounded completely destroyed. He'll be here tomorrow. He's probably on the plane right now. He'll make you better soup than I did, I promise._

_Thanks for eating mine, by the way. I didn't think you would._

_I feel like I'm talking to myself whenever I write in this journal. I just want you to know that I was here for you the whole time when you wake up. I haven't been to work in days, I'm getting really behind in my classes, and my rent's overdue, to be quite honest. But I'm here, Babs. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, even though I know that if you were awake you'd probably scold me for being so irresponsible. Thank God for roommates. Wally paid my share for this month, and most of last month's too. He made you some cream soup before going to track practice to day, by the way. Said you might want something edible for a change, being my girlfriend and everything. I hope you don't mind that I accidentally spilled it._

_On Wally._

_I have to do his laundry for a week as penance, but I think it was worth it this time._

_Why don't you ever wake up when I'm here?_

_Love,  
Dick_

_May 4th, 2005_

_Your dad came by today. Actually, they just left. He practically had a breakdown when he saw you, not that I blame him. You're worth a thousand breakdowns if not more, especially in the condition you're in. Apparently, in the fifteen minutes that I left the room so your dad could have time alone with you, you actually woke up and called him 'Gabriel.' He got a little freaked that you mistook him for your grandfather, but I think he'll get over it. You were asleep again by the time I got back, though. That sucked, I'm not gonna lie._

_I can still hardly recognize you, and its hell to watch you struggling so hard to heal. The doctors say you're making extraordinary progress, but to be quite honest I'm not really seeing it._

_Love,  
Dick_

_May 10th, 2005_

_You opened your eyes today, Babs, and I was there to see it. It was amazing. And it's funny, because usually your eyes are so blue, but I could've sworn that there was green in them when you looked at me. Probably the lighting in the room. I've never liked hospitals._

_Oh, and the nurse told me that you liked my soup. Babs, you almost died. You don't have to pretend so my feelings aren't hurt. Really, my manly ego can take a few blows at this point, especially for you. I promise I'll get over it._

_There was some guy who was going into your room as I was leaving. I watched him from the window, and he was hovering over your bead, poking around your face and moving your hair here and there. I wanted to stop him, but a doctor walked by and assured me that he was a professional. He works at the local orthodontist office, apparently, although I don't really see why you would need a dentist when the rest of you is in such a bad state. I don't remember your nurse telling me about any broken teeth from the accident. Maybe it was just to make sure. _

_Love,  
Dick_

_May 15th, 2005_

_Your dad has been visiting regularly. I thought I should record that, even though I should probably also mention that he keeps grumbling about how none of this would've happened if you'd stayed in Minnesota and hadn't met such irresponsible city delinquents. Obviously he's never had to deal with Dirk and Nathan, those two near kamikaze drag racers back in Gotham, during his time thus far as police chief. Though that's probably because they were jailed on drug charges when we were five, before your dad was made head honcho. I think Dirk and Nathan moved away after being released._

_You were awake again today, but just barely. When I said your name, you groaned like your head was hurting and whispered something, but I couldn't hear it. I took your hand, Babs, and you squeezed it softly. I miss holding your hand and taking walks with you. The nurse came in and I asked if she could tell what you were trying to say._

"'_Kory,'" she told me. "She's saying 'Kory.' She says it every time we try to interact with her. None of us have had the heart to tell her that Kory is gone."_

_I didn't either. I still don't. But I guess you'll find out eventually. I think I even wrote about it on the first entry in this journal. Maybe I should tell you before I give this to you to read. I have to admit that I wasn't exactly... delicate with the subject when I announced it on the first page. Maybe I should work on being more sensitive. But, then, you've always said I was a good boyfriend and you wouldn't want me to be any other way (even when I'm griping about Bruce pushing me so hard, which I know I do a lot), so maybe I'm fine the way I am._

_Love,  
Dick_

_May 17th, 2005_

_Apparently, the police called me last night. I was here with you in the hospital, but Wally took a message. They said that they have a bunch of assorted personal belongings of yours that need to be collected. Your purse survived the crash, and I'm told that you were clutching the necklace I gave you nearly a month ago in your fist when the paramedics got to you._

_I'm not gonna lie. I'm touched._

_You've been shifting a lot in your sleep. I placed a hand on your arm, and you seemed to relax. You always did say you felt safe with me, like the world couldn't get you. The doctor just came in. He's examining your chart, then looking at you carefully. God, if this guy is some kind of perverted, sick…_

_He's asking me if I'll please step outside the room with him. He looks seriously nervous about something. Oh, God, please tell me everything's going okay._

_Love,  
Dick_


	3. Hit the Wall

"What the hell do you _mean_ you 'regret to inform me that the woman in that room is not Babs Gordon'?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Grayson, but we've made a terrible mistake," the doctor seemed to shrink under Dick's fiery gaze.

"And what exactly was your mistake?"

"Well, we weren't sure at first, but we've had some tests done and compared dental records and x-rays and the like. The facts are undeniable."

"_What_ facts?" Dick knew before the doctor spoke. He knew it, but never in a million years did he want to admit it to himself. Acknowledging what he knew meant that it was truth, and that very truth would destroy him.

"I'm afraid that Babs Gordon passed on in the accident, Mr. Grayson."

"That's impossible," Dick spat in agitation.

"It _is _possible, Mr. Grayson," the doctor offered a sympathetic look, one that had so obviously been practiced and seasoned yet devoid of any real emotion. It made Dick sick to look at.

"But she's _right there,_" he gestured somewhat wildly to the room behind him.

"The woman in that hospital bed is _not_ Babs Gordon, but Kory Anders. Babs Gordon is _dead_, Mr. Grayson. I'm so sorry," he sure didn't look sorry to Dick. The doctor delivered the news coldly, as though someone had overcooked his steak. Nevertheless, the words did it. The vocalization of Dick's deepest fears made them all tangible and real, in the same way that they made him realize that he was helpless to do anything for Babs now or ever again.

He hadn't even attended her funeral, come to think of it, and all because he'd been too busy worrying over that… stranger. That girl who he knew, but didn't care about.

That girl who had lived instead of his girlfriend Babs Gordon.

----

"Dude!_ So_ glad you're back. I'm starving and I wanna make something to eat, but it's your turn to wash the dishes and the pots are all nasty." Wally West, an athletic and easygoing redhead who Dick had known since he was five, sat on the couch with his back to the open door where Dick was standing. The two were so close they might as well have been brothers. At thirteen, Wally and his family had moved to Steel City, but the two friends reconnected when Dick got accepted to Bludhaven University, and they agreed to share a flat. So when Wally was greeted with silence at his request for clean dishes rather than the usual sarcastic comeback he'd been expecting (usually having something to do with Wally's mother), he turned around and gave his friend an odd look. "Hey, you alright?"

"Wally…"

"What's up, man?" Dick looked pale and uneasy, which worried Wally further. It took a lot to get his friend rattled.

"Babs's dead."

"…She's…what?"

"Babs," Dick growled miserably, "she's dead."

Wally leaped up from his chair and started toward his friend. "But the doctors said she was going to be fine!"

"_She_ is. Babs's not."

"You're losing me, man."

"That wasn't Babs in the hospital this whole time," Dick's fists were clenched and he used the wall for support. "It was her friend. Kory.."

"…Shit."

----

Logically, it made sense. Of course it did. He'd seen pictures of them together before. Over the past few months there had been multiple comments on how similar they looked. Hell, he'd made a couple of the comments. But just because it was logical, that didn't mean that Dick was any less angry. Or distraught.

Or irrational.

"How could those _idiotic bastards_ have screwed it up?"

"For what it's worth, you couldn't tell either." Wally took a long sip from the Coke can in his hand, his eyes following his roommate as he paced the kitchen.

"That's not the _point_. They're professionals and I'm not. They should've known," Dick snatched the Coke can out of Wally's hand without much regard for whether or not his friend had actually been offering.

"You're welcome," Wally grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Sure, they were professionals. But you were her boyfriend. You'd think that-"

"Damn it, Wally. Shut up!"

"Jesus, sorry man. Sometimes I get ahead of myself. All I'm trying to say is that if you're gonna blame the doctors and everything, you might as well blame yourself too."

"Right now is _not_ the time to point fingers," Dick growled, finishing off the Coke in two swigs and absentmindedly tossing the empty can into the trash.

"You seemed cool with it a minute ago," Wally remarked. "What I'm basically trying to say is that it wasn't really anyone's fault."

"…I'm not even, like, _feeling_ anything," Dick muttered tensely. "I cried like hell when I found out she'd been in an accident. And now… I'm numb."

"You're in shock. You'll start crying like hell soon enough," his roommate assured him.

"Wally."

"What?"

"You're not helping. At all."

"This is probably why I failed psychology last semester," Wally sighed and pulled open the refrigerator door to obtain a new can of Coke, one that he'd hopefully hold onto this time. "Look, just go to your room and chill out for a while, okay? I think this is something you're better off dealing with on your own. But if there's anything you need, I'm here for you. Got it?" Dick nodded mutely, and started in the direction of his room. "Hey, Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really, really sorry. I know how much you loved her."

Dick could feel that Wally's words, unlike the doctor's, were real.

"Right. Thanks."

In the solitary silence of his room, the tears finally came. And in his head, the only words Dick Grayson could think were _Babs is dead._

----

The phone was ringing on the nightstand beside his bed, but Dick didn't really feel like picking it up. To be quite honest, he really didn't feel like doing anything at all. Except maybe laying on his bed and wallowing in his misery, which he'd been doing for the past few days.

"Hello?" In an instant, the shrill ringing ceased and Wally's voice sounded from the kitchen. "Uh, yeah. Hold on a second." Dick heard the shuffling of footsteps, then a knock on his door. "Dick?"

"What?"

"The hospital's on the phone."

"And you answered?" He could almost feel Wally rolling his eyes on the other side of the wall.

"Turns out, that's how you get it to stop ringing. You okay to talk?" Dick moved to the door and opened it. Wally stared at him expectantly, one hand offering the phone to him.

"Yeah, whatever," Dick took the cordless device with a careless shrug.

"You've holed yourself up in there for two weeks already. I know it hurts like hell, but you have to at least breathe oxygen."

"Why do you think people invented windows?" This time Wally visibly rolled his eyes at his friend's flippant response.

"Just remember, I've known Babs just as long as you have. I was friends with her too,"

"But I loved her," Dick whispered softly to himself before putting the phone up to his ear.

"Hey, I've gotta do my laundry, so when you're done, if Jennifer calls, could you tell her to come by?"

"Sure." Wally smiled quickly and clapped a comforting hand on Dick's shoulder before turning to leave. Feeling slightly less irate than a few moments before when he'd heard the word 'hospital,' he put the phone up to his ear. "This is Dick."

"Hello, Mr. Grayson?"

"That works."

"Hi, I'm Vikki. With an _i_. At the end."

"Uh…sure," Dick raised an eyebrow, even if 'Vikki with an _i _at the end' couldn't see it.

"I'm the receptionist here at the hospital, and I was told my Miss Kory Anders's nurse that Miss Anders would like very much to speak with you."

"She… would?"

"I'm under the impression that you were the one who's been consistently visiting her over the past month or so?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Dick could feel his temper flaring again. _Take it easy_, he instructed himself.

"Well, she's fully conscious now. Miss Anders, that is. And she's been asking to see certain people, including you."

"Who else?" _Damn curiosity._

A rustling noise filled the phone, presumably Vikki looking through Kory's records, "Miss' Raven Roth, Babs Gordon, and Mr. Garfield Logan." Dick's body had gone numb, his hands had grown cold, and his brain seemed to be working on autopilot now.

"Of course, well, she's been asking for the man who's been taking care of her too, and according to the visitation sheets, that would be you."

"She didn't recognize me?" They'd met before, he and Kory, although he did have to consider the fact that she'd been falling in and out of a coma for the last few months he'd been to see her. Kory.

The girl who he'd thought was Babs.

The girl who'd lived.

"Apparently not. The nurse wrote that she addressed you as '_the man, no, the angel who's been taking care of me_.'" A pause. "She your girlfriend or something? Does she have amnesia and not remember you? We might have to run a few tests if amnesia is the case, although she does know who she is and seemed to recognize her family."

"No. She's just… no. She's not my girlfriend, and I don't think she has amnesia."

"Just asking. Anyways, seeing as how all the other people she's been asking for are dead," Dick felt as though he'd been punched in the gut, the way Vikki had so brazenly stated the passing of his actual girlfriend. "We figure that we should perhaps send in a familiar face to put her at ease, since we have yet to tell her about the… more recent events that have occurred during her treatment."

Dick was silent. He felt sick. Again. Did empathetic people just not exist at that hospital?

"Mr. Grayson?"

"I'll think about it," he snapped savagely, and then he hung up the phone without so much as a 'thank you, goodbye.'


	4. Ditch Play

Dick wasn't really sure what lead him there, to the hospital. He'd started off on a walk, just a walk, with no particular direction in mind. But somehow his feet had taken him exactly where he'd been planning never to go again. _Damn curiosity._

A middle aged woman with a crew cut and sharp features sat at the reception desk, her bony fingers tapping rapidly at the keyboard in front of her. She had to be new. From what Dick remembered when he was visiting Ba…Kory, the previous occupant of that desk had been a young man. To the left of the computer was a nameplate.

It read _Vikki_. With an _i_. At the end.

"Hi," Dick greeted hesitantly, still not quite sure what he was doing there. Vikki's gaze didn't leave the screen.

"Sign in please."

"But I'm not a-"

"Sign _in_ please."

With a sigh, Dick snatched the clipboard and pen that sat innocently at the edge of the desk and scribbled out his name. He was in no mood to protest. As soon as he was done, Vikki tore herself away from whatever she had been typing and looked over the sign in sheet.

"Oh, you're Dick," she said, as if he wasn't previously aware of his own identity. "You should've told me. There's no need to sign in unless you're a patient, you know." Dick considered arguing, then shook his head and shrugged in apology. It really wasn't worth it. "She's in the same room as before, so you can go ahead and see her. I think her uncle and sister are here too, come to think of it..." Vikki smiled pleasantly, obviously still getting used to the way the hospital worked.

"Yeah, thanks." Dick wound his way through the busy hallways of the hospital, following a path that felt both familiar and alien at the exact same time. When he reached the correct room, he stopped and peered into the window next to the door, unsurprised to find that Whitney had visitors and contemplating whether or not he was really going to go in.

He watched her from the window, watched as she laughed at something the young boy said and smiled warmly when the older man put his hand over hers. Dick watched as her eyes grew bright at the realization that, banged up and bruised though she was, she had _lived._ She was alive and would continue living. She would become strong again, and with her family she would grow old, all the while enjoying life's small pleasures because _she was alive_, and Babs was not.

Dick turned away from the windows and began his trek back down the long halls, sickened to the point of revulsion by her joy. Perhaps it was selfish and mean and horrible of him, but at that point he really didn't care. He walked away from Kory then, walked away from the life he'd so carefully nursed back to health in his own small way because he'd thought she was someone else.

He turned away from her, disgusted with her life, which is why he didn't see the look of pure shock and horror on Kory's face and the bitter tears that sprang from her eyes when she was finally told that Babs, as well as Raven and Gar, had died. And even if he had seen all this, his personal rage would've kept him from ever believing the guilt she felt as the only survivor of the crash.

----

"Ready to go?" Wally took one last look at the interior of his Steel City apartment with a bittersweet sense of nostalgia.

"Yeah," Dick heaved a sigh before stepping out into the unusually bright June sunshine. "How'd Jennifer take it?"

"Eh," his friend shifted uncomfortably in the doorway. "Not so well."

Dick shot him an unnerving look, "Define _not so well_."

"Well…" Wally seemed to consider his answer carefully before speaking. "She cried. I don't think I've ever seen her cry. At least, not in a really long while."

"Not since…"

"That thing, right," he shook his head and stepped out the door, locking it behind him as it swung shut.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Come on," Dick scoffed as they moved towards the elevator. "Jennifer is, well, _Jennifer._ She didn't _just_ cry."

"Okay, okay, fine," Wally held up his hands in the universal sign for surrender. "She threw her hairbrush at me." Dick raised a questioning eyebrow. "…And maybe her toaster oven too."

"That's more like it," there was a short pause in conversation when the elevator doors slid open and the two stepped in. "You sure about this?" Wally looked up at the question. The doors slid shut.

"About... moving to Jump City?"

"Yeah," another silence, this time longer.

"You're gonna need a friend out there. I'm your friend."

"I know, but by leaving everything behind? I'm doing it because I _need_ to. You're only going because you're…"

"_Friend_, man. I'm your friend. Bros before hoes, man."

"…You did not just say that."

"I think I did."

"But Jennifer?"

"We've only been together for a year," Wally remarked with a nonchalant shrug. "I've known you my whole life."

"Doesn't change the fact that you love her," Dick reminded him pointedly.

"Do I? Sometimes I'm not so sure," Wally mused. "She needed me so badly when we met, it felt like I _had_ to love her in order to help her. She needed _someone_, y'know? Someone to believe in her. It was almost like I was obligated to, and I was willing," he shook his head with a sad smirk. "Damn hero complex. Maybe by loving her, I was only trying to save her from herself."

"Maybe."

"Maybe," Wally conceded. "Besides, I love you too. Just in a different way. But c'mon, now I'll get to meet some hot Jump City babes."

"Don't let Jennifer hear you say that."

"I already tried the standard long distance relationship 'we can make it work' spiel. Let's just say it didn't work too well on her, since that was about the time she decided…"

"To throw the toaster oven at you."

"The hairbrush, actually," Wally corrected with a lopsided, almost forced smirk. "The toaster was when I first said I was leaving."

"Right."

"Yeah." The elevator dinged and the doors groaned open, and Wally and Dick strode out, both looking a lot more confident than either really felt.

"Time to go," Wally declared to no one in particular, jerking open the door of his red sports car, bought used but chock full of potential horsepower. Needless to say, he liked speed.

"Yeah," Dick echoed quietly. "It's time to go."

"To Babs' memorial, then to Jump City, California and beyond!" Wally shot his friend an attempted smile, but Dick merely looked away. Remembering Babs Gordon, on his way to speaking at her memorial…it didn't quite put Dick in much of a playful mood.

He suddenly wondered if anything ever would again.

----

Babs' memorial was a media circus.

It was a big church, but the normally open and drafty sanctuary seemed almost claustrophobic with all the swarming reporters. Sure, Dick had heard that the mix up had gotten some attention, but this?

This was uncalled for.

Dick spotted Babs' parents looking hopelessly lost in the middle of all the hubbub, and it seemed that the pesky paparazzi had come all on their own. Perhaps they had agreed to one or two local newspapers, but the situation seemed to be getting out of hand.

Nevertheless, he found himself walking up to the podium when his name was called by the pastor handling the ceremony, a somber expression working to permanently fixate itself on his face. He began by saying what a great person Babs had been, what it was like to grow up with her, all the generic crap he was supposed to say at a funeral. But then he pulled out the journal, the leather bound notebook that he'd written in during Babs', actually Kory's time of healing.

"_You opened your eyes today, Babs, and I was there to see it. It was amazing. And it's funny, because usually your eyes are such an awesome blue color, but I could've sworn that there was green in them when you looked at me. Probably the lighting in the room. I've never liked hospitals_," he quoted, tensing to keep himself from breaking down in front of the world that was watching through television cameras. "Even then I never doubted that it was Babs," he told the crowd after a breath. "I saw her arms, her feet, and her complexion. I touched her skin, touched her hair, held her hand. I still can't believe that it wasn't her." Dick's knuckles were whitening as his grip on the podium tightened considerably. "Even to this day, it amazes me that with all the time we've spent together, from when we were kids up until now, I just didn't know. I had absolutely no idea. I loved her though. I think I might've loved her so much that I deluded myself into believing she was alive."

The church was completely silent at his words.

"Thank you," and with an obvious shudder, Dick walked away from the podium, leaving the leather bound notebook behind.

In half an hour he'd be on the road to Jump City, and he wouldn't be feeling any less anxious.


	5. INTERLUDE

"_Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requiris.  
Nesco, sed fieri sentio et excrucior." _

---

"_I hate and I love. Perhaps you ask why I do this.  
I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured."_

**Catullus 85**


	6. Two Years Gone

Dick Grayson did not like flowers.

He used to. Sort of. He'd liked the way flowers had made Babs' eyes light up whenever presented with them. He'd liked the way she'd take a single blossom into her delicate fingers, bring it to her nose, and inhale deeply, savoring the sweet scent. Flowers alone however, unrelated to his late girlfriend, never held much power over him. But now flowers were more than just useless to Dick; they taunted him, silently laughing at him from the elaborate bouquet that had decorated Babs' casket. Or worse, blaming him for his mistake. These days, every flower he saw proved to be a reminder of what he'd done.

Dick Grayson also did not like lunch meetings with people he'd never met before. Past experience had taught him that when Wally West approached him with, "Dude, I forgot her name, but there's this girl…" it was generally synonymous with "blind date". Those usually meant an hour with assorted vapid bimbos, and as Dick had told his best friend a million times, he wasn't interested in a relationship, even if it _had_ been two years since he'd gotten any action.

But most of all, Dick Grayson did not like being tapped on the shoulder. So, naturally, there was someone tapping him at that very moment as he stood in front of a flower shop waiting to meet Wally, who was bringing the mysterious "lunch meeting girl". And Dick didn't appreciate that at all. But before he could turn around and inform the unwelcome tapper just how _much_ he didn't appreciate it, a vaguely familiar voice interrupted his annoyed train of thought.

"Y'know, you're a pretty hard guy to find."

Dick threw a curious glance over his shoulder, but one look made him wish he'd never agreed to lunch in the first place. Behind him stood Kory Anders, fully healed and smiling at him shyly, as though embarrassed by her own presence. She looked very much the same as she had before the accident, although her red hair had grown since he'd last seen her in the hospital, and her skin had darkened considerably. The only truly shocking difference was the long scar that ran from her lower left cheek all the way down her neck and straight into the plunging neckline of her shirt. She was babbling on about something Dick wasn't following; he overwhelmingly preoccupied with the fact that she was standing there behind him to begin with. Suddenly she stopped talking and was looking at him expectantly.

"What…the hell are you doing here?" It was the only thing Dick would muster from his confusion, although he wasn't at all sorry for the cold tone he employed.

"I just…told you. I live here now," Kory responded persistently, eyebrows knitted together in the beginnings of frustration. "Did you not hear everything I just said?" She'd probably explained all this while Dick had been taking in her presence. "I needed a change of scenery, so I got a job here and-"

"Buddy! You showed!" Wally West interrupted Kory with a smile of greeting and extended them both a wave as he approached. "Ready to get a bite to eat?"

"Wait, Wally, where's the girl?" Normally Dick wouldn't complain if a potential date didn'ts how up, but today he'd take anything over catching up with _the girl who lived._

"Actually, this _is_ the girl," Wally said, hiking a thumb in Kory's direction. "Her name's…"

"Kory," she supplied, smiling slightly at his hesitation. "But he already knows that."

"I…I have to go," Dick announced suddenly, already walking in the direction of his car.

"Dude, where are you going? We were supposed to have lunch-"

"Forget it, Wally. I'm going back to the office. I have…a lot of work to catch up on after that month-long vacation you practically forced me on." With absolutely no acknowledgement of Kory's presence whatsoever, Dick practically jumped into a jet black Mercedes and peeled away from his past.

"…What…just happened?" Kory asked with raised eyebrows.

Wally shook his head, looking down the street Dick had used as an escape route. "Wish I knew, sweetheart."

---

Jennifer Hex was getting very sick of boxes. It wasn't enough that you had to pack them when you left, but then there was the whole unpacking thing to think of as soon as you reached wherever your new house was. Really, what had driven her to chuck her entire life to the other side of the country, anyways? Steel City to Jump City? Had she been high?

Not that moving to Jump City didn't have its perks. The sun was shining beautifully. In general, it was a picturesque Southern California day. But that didn't exactly matter when there were tens of thousands of boxes to be rooted through. Fortunately, a distraction opened the front door at that very moment, allowing Jennifer to take her mind off of all things brown and cubed, if only for a little while.

"He drove away." Kory Anders entered the living room of the two bedroom flat that they shared with a toss of her long red hair, tossing her purse onto one of the box-towers that seemed to surround the immediate area.

"Excuse me?" Jennifer shook her shoulder length platinum blond hair out of her face, the bright pink streaks catching the light, and looked up from a large collection of CDs she'd unearthed. "You have some pretty decent music, by the way."

"Most of those are…were Rachel's," Kory commented, noticing the case they'd been stored in. "But can you believe that? He _drove away._ We hadn't even had lunch yet. I'd barely even said anything! He drove away like I'd done something wrong by asking to meet him over a meal." She shook her head. "I just don't understand…he took care of me while I was injured. Why wouldn't he want to see me?"

"He did think you were his girlfriend," Jennifer pointed out, turning away from the musical treasure trove in her lap.

"But why should that matter? Babs was always going on about what a sweetheart he was. I just…I don't get it."

"Did you happen to see Wally?"

Kory's eyes widened. "Oh, Jennifer, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot about that!"

"Whatever," the girl tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"I'm going into the radio station in about an hour to meet with the head tech guy, and Wally'll be there." Kory smiled positively. Jennifer sometimes wondered whether or not her new flat-mate had ever been anything but sunny and optimistic. "He is, after all, kind of my partner."

"Sure." The blond pointed to the closest pile of cardboard boxes. "Until then, feel like helping me out here?"

---

"What the hell was that, man?" Wally practically blew his best friend's office door off its hinges when he raced through it a mere twenty minutes after the disastrous meeting with Kory Anders.

"What the hell was that? You mean you have to ask?" Dick sat at his desk, buried under a mountain of paperwork that had built up during his time away. "Don't you know who she is?"

"Of course I do," Wally shot back with an annoyed look. "She's my new morning talk show co-host I hired to take Francis' place since you decided to promote her to her own solo afternoon slot."

"…Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I said-"

"She _works_ under me? You _hired_ her?"

"Hey, you said I could hire anyone I wanted, remember? Right before you left, you told me that I had the month you were gone on vacation to find a replacement for Francis, so I did. And I figured you'd like her! She's a sweet girl, smart, and she comes from Steel City. She even felt familiar when I first talked to her on the phone. I got a good vibe from her."

"Of course she felt familiar, Wally. _She was_ _one of Babs' best friends._"

There was a long silence before the fast-talking red head collapsed into the nearest chair.

"Oh."

"_Oh?_"

"You mean…she can't be…_that_ Kory?" Wally chewed on his lower lip nervously. "She does look an awful lot like Babs with long hair and green eyes…" He caught the dangerous look Dick was shooting him and closed his mouth.

"She has to go."

"What? Wait, be reasonable here man. Her first show is tomorrow morning. I can't exactly find another replacement in twelve hours and prep them on all the material we've already worked out. Besides, Kory and I work well together. It's like having another Francis." Wally tilted his head to the side. "Well, one that I'm not sleeping with. And on what grounds are you going to fire her, exactly? It's not like you can say that you're getting rid of her because she survived a car crash that your girlfriend didn't."

"Wally, listen to me-"

"No, dude, you listen to me. It's been two years. You need to get over it. I hired Kory because she'll be good for this radio station, and I'm sure Bruce would agree with me." Mention of his surrogate father made Dick fall silent. "Look, I'll be working with her, not you. I'm sure that with all that 'elusive workaholic boss' crap that you picked up from Bruce, she won't even know you're running the station, let alone in the building."

"Then how'd she know that she could find me through you?"

Wally paused. "Hell if I know."

---

Kory was getting impatient, and that was a very difficult thing for her. She'd been waiting for her new partner to take her to the head tech guy for over an hour. The office she sat in still felt unfamiliar to her, like whoever it had belonged to last still worked there, and she was just visiting. Only a handful of items truly distinguished the room as hers, including a small African Violet plant with small pink flowers bursting from amongst the deep green leaves and a picture frame in which she'd placed a photo of her family and friends at a restaurant in downtown Steel City, taken a mere month before the accident.

"Miss Anders?"

She looked up at the sound of her name, and her eyes met a large, athletic looking African man standing in her office doorway.

"Are you Victor Stone?" Wally had told her the name of the head tech guy earlier that morning.

"Yeah, that's me. But you can call me Vic." He smiled. "Or Cyborg, if you decide I'm as much of a geek as everyone else thinks I am."

"I think I'll go with Vic. It's a pleasure to meet you." Kory stood and extended a hand. Her new co-worker stepped forward and shook it firmly. "Please don't call me Miss Anders, though. It sounds so…pretentious."

"Kory, then?"

She smiled. "Yeah."

"Alright then, Kory. I've been expecting you for a while now, so I decided to come looking."

"Wally West said he was going to take me to meet you, but he never showed up." Kory shook her head. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, I just have no idea where you would be, so-"

"Don't apologize," Vic waved his hand dismissively. "Wally has the tendency to say things and then forget about them ten minutes later. He's probably up with the big boss right now; it's where he spends most of his time when he should be working."

"He and the big boss are…close?"

"They go way back. Its how he got a job here at the radio station to begin with."

"Funny, I don't think Wally ever mentioned that. Or even the big boss' name, come to think of it."

"Like I said, Wally's an absentminded kinda guy. Not stupid or anything, but absentminded." Vic gestured in the direction of the door. "Since you've never even met the boss before, why don't we go get you acquainted? We'll probably find Wally along the way, and then we can get down to business."

"Sounds great," Kory decided, smiling. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about Victor Stone put her buzzing nerves at ease.

---

Jennifer wasn't sure quite when it had happened, but suddenly every decent job on the market short of McDonalds employee required a college degree. She'd abandoned the cardboard boxes as soon as Kory had taken leave of the apartment to go meet some Victor Stone guy, and was now pouring through the classifieds in hopes of netting a well-paying occupation. Thus far, she'd been wholly unsuccessful.

She couldn't even remember what it was like to work. The last time she'd held a job was way back when she was seventeen and trying to save up for a car. Then her uncle had died and left her a small fortune, and she'd been able to avoid all forms of labor since. And now all of a sudden a college education was required to make any kind of money at all.

How quickly her small fortune had run out.

Shooting an angry, fault-bestowing glare at the newspaper, Jennifer rose from the floor and ripped open another cardboard box. In her Classified-Ad related fury, she managed to topple the box from where it sat on top of several other boxes, and its contents spilled onto the floor. Most of it was assorted odds and ends from her old Steel City apartment, but something caught her eye; a photograph of a red haired teenager, grinning madly with his arms wrapped around a girl with blond hair streaked pink.

It was Wally and her, on her half birthday. He'd taken her to the beach. She'd been happy.

Funny, she thought she'd gotten rid of all things Wally during her super purge a mere day after he'd left for California. In fact, Jennifer was ready to throw it away the very moment she'd seen it spilling from the box, but when she picked it up something stopped her from moving toward the grocery bag she and Kory had been using as a trash can until they could dig up the one they'd packed away.

She'd been _happy._

As though possessed, Jennifer strode into her bedroom and yanked open her sock drawer. After another few seconds of careful contemplation, she slipped the photo beneath the only pieces of clothing she'd managed to unpack so far and returned to the living room with a strange newfound box-opening purpose.

---

"Shouldn't you be doing work or something?" Dick asked his best friend, tossing an old file in the trash can beside his desk. "Isn't that what I hired you for?"

"Nah, you hired me for all these deep conversations we have. Like why you can't fire the new girl." Wally leaned back in his chair, getting comfortable. Suddenly, his eyes shot open. "Crap!"

Dick looked up from his computer. "What?"

"I was supposed to meet her an hour ago to go over tech with Vic! I completely forgot!"

"It's a sign," Dick muttered ominously. "Now can I fire her?" He was only half kidding.

"Shut up, man. She's probably waiting for me in her office-" Wally had bolted out of his seat and was inches from the door when it swung open. Unable to stop himself, the red head ended up colliding with the wall that was Victor Stone's chest.

"I thought I'd find you here," the large African man commented with a small smirk.

"I lost track of time up here. Sorry about that, Vic. And – oh…"

Kory peaked out from behind Vic's massive body. "Dick…Grayson?" Her eyes widened in shock. "_You're _the big boss? _My_ boss?"

Dick had gone completely rigid at the sight of her, and before Wally could fast talk the conversation in the direction of the door, all hell broke loose.

"Get out of my office."

"…Excuse me?" If Kory had seemed taken aback by his sudden departure from lunch, she was positively stricken by his harsh words now.

"Get the hell out of my office, Kory Anders."

"But I work here. And…_you_ were the one that bolted during lunch."

"I didn't want to talk to you. That hasn't changed."

"You two know one another?" Vic interjected, raising an eyebrow.

"Not the best time to get in this conversation…" Wally commented, pulling Vic out of the line of fire before Kory shot back her response.

"Look, I just wanted to properly thank you for taking care of me two years ago. You didn't exactly give me a chance back then, the way you ran."

"Have you ever thought that maybe I didn't want to see you again?"

A dangerous flash ignited in Kory's eyes. "What the hell did I ever do to you?"

"You can't be serious," Dick laughed darkly, even though nothing was very funny at the moment. "You drag my girlfriend into a car, you get her killed, you make me think that she's alive, you take away four months of my life…"

"_Excuse me?_" Kory was truly furious now, her fists balled so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. "_Forgive me for living! You think I wanted to give you false hope? You think I wanted to live while my three closest friends were suddenly taken from me? I'm so SORRY for taking four months of your life , I'm so SORRY you held my hand while I was unconscious, and I'm especially sorry that you couldn't tell me apart from your own girlfriend!_"

"_You don't know what you're talking about!"_ Dick roared back, so angered by Kory's jab that he slammed his hands down on his desk and sent papers flying off the surface. "_Do you realize that I missed the funeral of the woman I loved because I was catering to YOUR every need?"_

"_I was in a coma, for God's sake! You chose to be there, so stop making it sound like I forced you to sit with me every day. And hey, I missed ALL of my best friends' funerals because I was almost killed too! You weren't the only one who loved Babs. She was one of my best friends!"_

"_She was more than a friend to me! She was my soul mate. And you…" _Dick weakened, if only for a moment, "…you might as well have her with your own bare hands."

There was a silence as the words sunk in. Vic and Wally had retreated to the farthest corner of the room, staring wide eyed at the two inflamed individuals standing before them, shouting at one another over a desk. Kory's eyes were blazing as she took a solid step forward, leaned in close to Dick's face, and whispered the only words she could muster in her near-blinding anger.

"Go. To. _Hell_." She then backed down and stormed out of the office, sparing only a moment to throw an almost vicious glance at Wally and say, "By the way, Jennifer was the one who told me to find _Mr. Grayson_ through you. She sends her regards."

The room was silent as the door swung closed behind her.

_We all have a weakness  
__But some of ours are easy to identify_


	7. May 2005

_A mere day after Wally had skipped town, Jennifer was struck with the sudden realization that her flat had somehow morphed into a disgusting Wally Shrine since they'd begun dating. Really, when had she let him take over her life like this? She'd never been the guy-dependant type, but suddenly it was like everything she looked at had "WALLY WEST WAS HERE" scrawled all over it. _

_A box she'd found outside her flat just that morning sat by her bedroom door, brimming with belongings she'd left at his dorm on various occasions. There was the small mountain of books he'd recommended stacked in her living room, most of which she'd actually had every intention of reading until two days ago. Three bags of restaurant leftovers still sat in her refrigerator, a disgusting display of affection for their evenings out. They'd had sex in her shower so many times that she'd lost count, so that would obviously have to go. The fate of her bed didn't look so sunny either. Jennifer briefly considered sleeping on the couch until she could acquire a new mattress, but oh wait, he'd contaminated that too with all those stupid movies they'd watched together. He'd cooked her dinner an indecent amount of times; she might as well just burn the small wooden dining table. _

_Two pairs of his boxers were stuffed under her dresser, for God's sake. Who'd given him permission to leave them there, exactly?_

_As Jennifer moved throughout her apartment, it seemed she couldn't go an inch without every object she owned screaming out reminders of what she'd lost. Evidently she'd been much too devoted to her ex-boyfriend, and she hated herself for it. When had she become such a dependant, sappy idiot anyways? In some twisted form of righteous fury, she snatched up her heavy duty flashlight from its usual place in the corner of her living room, which Wally'd had the indecency to use once to fix her clogged sink, and flung it through the window that Wally had always said gave the best view of the Steel City sunset. Luckily, she lived in the South Side, where no one would think twice if they saw a flashlight sailing from a ninth story flat chased by a small cloud of glass shards._

_Jennifer let a frustrated moan escape her as she collapsed to the ground in defeat, realizing that she might as well just demolish the whole apartment. Because like her life, Wally had somehow managed to touch every part of it._

_----_

"_Mr. Wayne? Someone's here to see you. A Mr. Richard Grayson?"_

"_Send him in."_

"_He'll see you now," a girl no older than twenty returned to her desk and pointed in the direction from which she'd come, a set of imposing wooden doors. Her name, according to the plaque on her desk, was Cassandra Cain. Obviously Bruce Wayne's last secretary, Helena Bertinelli, hadn't made the cut. Not many did. But then, Bruce Wayne had very…particular standards._

"_Thank you," Dick almost added 'and good luck', but thought better of it as he strode through the doors he'd been familiar with since childhood, shutting them tightly behind him as per his surrogate father's strict preferences. Bruce Wayne was a media mogul who owned a large handful of Jump City's more popular radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and TV shows. He'd taken in Dick at the age of ten for reasons Dick could never quite figure out, and even Bruce seemed unsure at times. But they'd grown on one another, perhaps thriving on the bond of orphanage. And although there was no explaining it, there was nothing in the world Dick craved more than Bruce Wayne's approval._

_Except maybe Babs._

"_Are you feeling…better?" Bruce's question was hesitant. He'd never been good with anything more than a teaspoon of emotion._

"_No, but I'm hoping work will take my mind off of it." Dick took a seat in one of the uncomfortable leather chairs that were positioned before the elder man's desk._

_Bruce nodded and shuffled a few papers that sat on his desk. "I understand. I've just picked up a considerably run down radio station that you might be interested in managing for me. My marketing people have been pushing to make it into one of those ridiculous single-genre music stations, but I think there should be more…substance involved, personally."_

"_What, like talk radio meshed with a mix of music?" Dick nodded and crossed his legs, letting the idea sink in. "There's potential."_

"_I'd like you to begin work as soon as possible. I'm losing money every day I hold onto that radio station without anything playing on it."_

_Dick shifted in his seat. "Do you think there's any way I can give Wally a job? He's having trouble-"_

"_It's your station now, Dick. Do what you want with it, just don't let me down."_

"_Alright, Bruce, I'll do what I can. Thanks for giving me this opportunity." He stood and moved toward the door._

"_By the way, I thought you should know that I named the station KWYN." Dick turned and shot his surrogate father a small smirk._

"_Subtle."_

_Bruce managed a rare smile. "I thought you'd like it."_

_Dick hesitated with his hand on the door. "It was…good to see you."_

_The elder man's eyebrows knitted together, as though struggling with the words he'd just received. Finally, after a long silence, he said:_

"_Miss Cain has the full file for KWYN. You'll need it. Goodbye for now, Dick."_


End file.
